Reviews with content warning for Body shaming - Felix Ever After

WOW.... I really loved this book. I have read a lot of recommended queer YA recently and been a bit disappointed, so I didn't have high hopes for this book, but it blew me away. In the beginning it felt like any other book that was gonna be predictable and just ok, but it took turns and loops that I didn't see coming. I laughed and cried (both good and bad tears), gasped, and couldn't stop reading.

I love Felix, all of his good sides and bad sides, his friendship with Ezra is so amazing. As a queer person who also is questioning my gender, it felt really good to read about somebody else with similar thoughts. His search for love and all the feelings that comes with it is so so real, and the insecurity you can feel around your own art are so well portrayed. My favorite character is easily Leah, and I love how her friendship with Felix grew through the book. I really appreciated showing different family's dynamics, and how being a part of LGBTQIA+ can change it. The book deals with a lot of heavy topics without making you feel drained or gloomy, instead it gives you hope for a change in the world. It really gives a slap in the face to people that can't stand other people being different. We are here, we are queer, and we are here to stay.

It was so moving, and it really made me reflect about a lot in life that I maybe take for granted.
I will recommend this to everybody, not only queer folk, because if more people see the problem with transphobia and homophobia, how much it affects people and how you can break somebody down with it, I hope more people would think before they speak, and the people that are watching, silent at the side would start speaking up for people.

Content Warnings

snapplejuggler's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

sunpuddles's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ writing
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ insightfulness
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ readability
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ plot development
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ character
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ pace

I love that this book exists for young adults. I wish I could have read this in high school or college. Seeing the world through Felix’s eyes is so powerful and it is clear that Callender is sharing lived experiences. This portrait of coming of age and first love is joyful and heartbreaking and triumphant. The writing is very raw, vulnerable and true and the drama and intensity with which these young adult characters live their lives is so realistic to my own emotions and experiences in high school. Finding out who you want to be and wondering wether or not you are worthy of love is such a universal experience. Being trans, queer and a Demiboy are much more specific and really open the reader’s heart to important issues of acceptance of others, no matter how you relate. This was such an enjoyable, powerful read!

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